This plugin hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.

SodaHead Polls

Description

Add polls to your blog to create an engaging experience for your audience and keep them coming back for more, with ‘SodaHead Polls’.

Many of the web’s top publishers, including ESPN, ABC News, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, Warner Bros Television, use SodaHead as their preferred poll publishing and management tool to collect and display poll results in real-time.

SodaHead polls are easy to customize and packed with features:

  • Polls – Write unlimited polls targeted to your audience
  • Maps – Include advanced mapping features to help geographically display the results of your polls
  • Demographics – Compare and display how different demographics responded to a poll
  • Templates – Create, save and organize poll templates for future use
  • Customize – Use CSS and HTML to design the layout of the poll including colors, font, background, and more
  • Display – Choose to embed polls inline or flyout on page scroll
  • Results – Hide poll results from your users for contests and promotions

All of your polls and templates are stored so you can return later to add or update as desired.

Polls enhance interactivity and “stickiness” by engaging your audience and encouraging readers to come back to your site to read results. Whether you blog about the presidential elections just around the corner, something controversial in the news, or the latest celebrity gossip, your readers can actively participate in the discussion through polls. Chances are they’ll send their friends to vote too, increasing traffic and interactivity on your site.

About Sodahead:

SodaHead is the premier provider of polling technology for world class media companies led by former MySpace and Viacom executives. Media and brands can engage their audience using SodaHead’s custom Content Management System (CMS) and Application Programming Interface (API). The Los Angeles-based company is privately-held and venture backed. For more information on SodaHead, visit SodaHead.com.

Screenshots

  • Poll with logo, demographics, and map
  • Flyout poll with logo and demographics
  • Navigate to Polls, Templates, or Settings
  • From ‘Manage Polls’, add a new poll
  • Add a poll to a post
  • Add a poll to the sidebar
  • Poll template options

Installation

Installation Instructions

Option A: Automatic installation through WordPress

  1. Log-in to your WordPress site
  2. Hover over “Plugins” and click “Add New”
  3. Under Search type in “SodaHead Polls”, then click “Search Plugins”
  4. On the results page, click “Install Now”
  5. Once installed, click “Activate Plugin”

Option B: Manual installation

  1. Download here
  2. Upload the “SodaHead Polls” folder to the ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ directory
  3. Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to “Plugins” > “Installed Plugins”
  4. On the “Plugins” page, click “Activate”

Option C: To upload the plugin through WordPress, instead of FTP

  1. Download the plugin here
  2. Hover over “Plugins” and click “Add New”
  3. Click the “Upload” link
  4. Click “Choose file” and select the “SodaHead Polls” zip file
  5. Click “Install Now”
  6. Once installed, click “Activate Plugin”

Usage

Adding a poll to a new post or page

  1. Click on “Posts” or “Pages” > “Add New” in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Click on the SodaHead poll icon from the “Visual” editor (WYSIWYG)
  3. Select template or edit template
  4. Select created poll from modal, or create new poll by clicking the “Ask a new question” link
  5. Click “Insert Poll”

Adding a poll to the sidebar

  1. Click on the “Appearance” > “Widgets” in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Find “SodaHead Polling” and drag it into the desired sidebar on the right
  3. Add a title
  4. Select created poll, or create new poll by clicking the “Ask a new question” link
  5. Select to display poll as a flyout on scroll or inline embed
  6. Select template or edit template
  7. Click “Save”

FAQ

How can I better engage my audience with polls?

Ask high-level questions

Don’t make questions too specific. Ask about the broader topic highlighted by a current event. For example, instead of asking “Do you like Kumquats more than Plums?” you may ask “Do you like to eat exotic fruits?”

Don’t ask biased questions

Phrase your Poll Question from an objective standpoint so people from all sides of the discussion can participate. For example, you don’t want to ask a Poll phrased “Is Red the Best Color Ever?” and give only two answer choices: “(A) I Love Red!” and “(B) I hate colors”. Your poll won’t do well and you lose out.

Have a daily poll

Create a relationship with your audience so they visit daily. Write about the results of the previous day’s poll so they know their votes matter. Voting only takes a few seconds, and your audience will visit everyday just to participate and make their opinions count.

How do I create a new poll?
  1. Hover over the “Polls” tab on left and click on “Polls” from the menu in the WordPress Admin 1. Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Click on the “Add New” button to the right of the “Manage Polls” title
  3. Create a new SodaHead account or login to your existing SodaHead account
  4. Add question and answers to the poll form
  5. Click the “Ask” button
  6. Click “Save Poll” from the “Edit Poll” form
How do I add a poll to my post or page?
  1. Click on “Posts” or “Pages” > “Add New” in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Click on the SodaHead poll icon from the “Visual” editor (WYSIWYG)
  3. Select template or edit template
  4. Select created poll from modal, or create new poll by clicking the “Ask a new question” link
  5. Click “Insert Poll”
How do I add a poll to the sidebar?
  1. Click on the “Appearance” > “Widgets” in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Find “SodaHead Polling” and drag it into the desired sidebar on the right
  3. Add a title
  4. Select created poll, or create new poll by clicking the “Ask a new question” link
  5. Select to display poll as a flyout on scroll or inline embed
  6. Select template or edit template
  7. Click “Save”
How do I hide poll results?

Navigate to “Edit Poll” page in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
Click the “Hide Results” checkbox
Click “Save Poll”

How do I create a new template?
  1. Hover over the “Polls” tab on left and click on “Templates” from the menu in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Click on the “Add New” button to the right of “Manage Templates”
  3. Add a title to your template in the “Template Title…” field
  4. Create your template from the options on the right side bar
  5. After selecting an option(s) from the right side bar, click the applicable “Insert” button
  6. To save your template, click the “Save Template” button
How do I manage my templates?
  1. Hover over the “Polls” tab on left and click on “Templates” from the menu in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Hover over applicable template
  3. Click the “Edit” link to edit your template
  4. Click the “Delete” link to delete your template
How do I manage my flyout settings?
  1. Hover over the “Polls” tab on left and click on “Flyout Settings” from the menu in the WordPress Admin Interface (WP-Admin)
  2. Select flyout width from “Width” drop down menu
  3. Select flyout display from “Display” drop down menu
  4. Add the number of pixels from bottom for the flyout to be displayed, from the “Position from bottom” field

Reviews

February 7, 2017
This poll plugin was pretty odd to me. It presented me with an API ask box after requiring a registration when creating a poll. I didn't make it any further than that and couldn't evaluate it any more. But compared to other wordpress polls available this was too cumbersome for me.
Read all 9 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“SodaHead Polls” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Translate “SodaHead Polls” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

3.0.4

  • Fixe cache issue on poll form by flushing cache on edit and delete.

3.0.3

  • Fixes IE<9 CSS limitation on demographics

3.0.2

  • Fix token storage bug, forcing user to re-login after closing web-browser
  • Ensure widget dependencies loads even when wordpress template is not triggering enqueue script hook.

3.0.1

  • Fix IE 8 async JS bug
  • description and screenshots updated

3.0.0

  • HTML5 widget (compatible with iOS)
  • Demographic data collection
  • Maps (U.S., World and more)
  • Display poll within a flyout
  • Poll template editor

2.0.8

  • Add SWFObject as a general dependency.

2.0.7

  • YUI and thickbox JS are now queue-loaded on admin init

2.0.6

  • html patch to jQuery got removed
  • JS/HTML are now separated during transaction
  • Plugin is setup to talk to wpapi

2.0.5

  • Fix plugin

2.0.4

  • Fix vulnerability HTB22893

2.0.3

  • Fix vulnerability HTB22894

2.0.2

  • Fix bug when sidebar polls were not showing on Internet Explorer
  • Monkey patch jquery.html method to ensure JS eval.

2.0.1

  • Logout user on deactivate

2.0

  • Adds SodaHead media selector to the plugin.
  • Adds Videos
  • Uses more built-in functions from WordPress.
  • Allows usage without registration.